It's the guns...

Reposting this from Facebook:

"Itís the guns.

Itís not that ďweíve banished God from our schoolsĒ because Iím pretty sure that God was present in all those parochial schools where young boys were sexually molested for generations. And do we really need to have God in all our hair salons, movie theaters, and shopping malls or wherever else the next lunatic decides to appear? Iím no biblical scholar, but Iím pretty sure that God isnít made of Kevlar.

Itís the guns.

Itís not the lack of access to mental health services, although our lack of access to mental health services in this country is nothing short of shameful. But the point is that there are crazy people in all corners of the globe, but it seems that only in this particular corner of the globe are crazy people armed to the teeth. You know what you call a crazy person WITHOUT a gun? Randy Quaid.

Itís the guns.

Itís not the exposure to violent images on movies and in video games. Kids in Europe and Asia watch the same movies and play the same video games as American kids. You want sick violence? Watch some Japanese anime (Fair Notice: NSFW doesnít cover the half of it). You want to be comparatively safe from a mass shooting? Go to Japan. Go figure.

Itís the guns.

You think other weapons are just as lethal, yet arenít regulated? Iíll tell you what. Letís get into a war, with your Army getting knives and baseball bats and whatever non-firearm you can lay your hands on, and my Army gets assault rifles. Want to place bets on whoís going to win? Thereís a reason why every military on earth arms its soldiers with firearms and not hatchets.

Itís the guns.

Iím not suggesting a solution here. But until we can agree on the cause, itís not likely that weíre ever going to find one. The NRA and Fox News are going to keep spewing out nonsense (all of the excuses above were inspired by a single episode of ďFox and FriendsĒ) to protect firearms manufacturers from the inevitable regulation thatís coming. Now thereís good regulation and bad regulation, and if weíre going to do it right, we have to start with some reasonable first assumptions, like this one:

11. So while cartels can smuggle drugs in America by the pallet load guns are hard?

A handgun with a box of ammo is no bigger then a kilo package of cocaine. A lot smaller than a baleof marijuana.

But there is no need to smuggle arms into the country. We already have 300 million in circulation and completely invisible to the government. How many enterprising criminals will have the foresight to stockpile weapons and make some money? Criminals will always have guns.

13. Formulating unconstitutional and/or ineffective laws will not protect them

I can understand the emotion but too many "solutions" here have no foundation in reality.

You still have to deal with existing constitutional reality. You still have to deal with existing political reality. You still have to deal with the tens of millions of gun owners that refuse to let themselves be demonized.

It is a complex problem - as the President said, it will take more than one law.

17. I agree, but there's a sticky problem.

Your mental health history is part of your health history, the confidentiality of which is guarded under federal law. You would have to carve out some kind of exemption in order for the clerk at Dick's Sporting Goods to be able to see if you're being treated for mental illness.

If you've been committed by the court, that's another (and public) issue.

18. Background checks and personal privacy are a legal morass.

I don't even pretend to understand the ins and outs of it.

But my point was that states are not presently following current law. There are people who cannot legally buy guns for a variety of reasons that are not in the system because the states are not dedicating the proper resources to the task.

20. Well, yes.

Firearms are test fired at the factory, and the gun powder scent lingers for up to a year. There are currently K-9 units trained to sniff out otherwise unused guns. The dogs are also trained to sniff out specific metals and oils used in the manufacture of firearms.